Offshoring overview

BusinessWeek takes a sobering -- and refreshingly sober (i.e., hysteria-free) -- look at the offshoring of high-tech jobs. If you've been following the issue closely, there may not be much new information here but the article is an excellent summation of the topic, written with an eye toward the future.

It quotes both the cheerleaders who voice undying faith in the U.S. economy's ability to adapt and pragmatists who warn that the window to adapt successfuly looks alarmingly small (say, by 2010). Also, it buttresses the emerging wisdom that adapting will require an "extreme makeover" for American code jockeys:

Traditionally, the profession has attracted brainy introverts who are content to code away in isolation. With so much of that work going overseas, though, the most successful American programmers will be those who master people skills. The industry is hungry for liaisons between customers and basic programmers and for managers who can run teams of programmers scattered around the world.

At the same time, it points out that an emerging venture capital market in India, coupled with an enterpreneurial mindset, could keep that country's programmers from being relegated to the grunt work that's been the bread and butter of outsourcing firms to date.

By the way, there's an interesting sidebar to this story that looks at a wrinkle the Europeans have added to the outsourcing debate. Dubbed "near-shoring," it's creating new job opportunities in Eastern Europe.

For a more critical take on both the pro and con arguments in the offshoring debate, check out Bill Virgin's column today.